Commercial aircraft typically include numerous rows of seats securely fixed in position within an interior cabin. A first class section, a business class section, and an economy class section may be within the interior cabin. Each section of the aircraft may have rows of seats spaced apart from one another.
The interior cabin of the aircraft may also include one or more monuments, such as lavatories, galleys, closets, partitions, and/or the like. Various monuments include an aft wall that is positioned in front of a row of seats. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (the “FAA”) mandates a minimum distance between a seat and an aft wall of a monument within an interior cabin of an aircraft. For example, the FAA defines a head strike zone as an area within a thirty-five inch radius from a seat reference point. Accordingly, the aft monument wall is set apart a distance that exceeds a thirty-five inch linear horizontal distance from the seat reference point.
As can be appreciated, aircraft operators seek to increase seating capacity within a limited cabin space. As seating capacity increases, revenue increases. At the same time, however, passenger safety is of utmost concern. As such, aircraft operators are limited by a minimum required distance between a row of seats and an aft wall of a monument. If a row of seats were to be positioned closer to the aft wall of the monument, FAA requirements may be violated, and passenger safety may be at risk.